The Rising Power (Book 1)
by Demiwitchwoodwalker
Summary: Sam Black has always known who she is, despite practically nobody else knowing it. She knows she's supposed to be a leader, she knows she's the supposedly legendary "Sea's Daughter". She's Sirius Black's granddaughter. She also knows that if anyone in the mortal world knew, she would be dead. And yet everything still doesn't go as she suspected it would.
1. Prologue

**Author's note: Okay, this story is a bit different... I have it listed as a crossover between Percy Jackson and Harry Potter, but this also has things from a lot of other things, though those two and a German book series called Woodwalkers are the main ones. This story is very different from my Emma Black story, mainly because this isn't based off of any already existing books in the sense that that story is and it takes place in a quite different place than in Percy Jackson and Harry Potter. I hope you all enjoy this story, even if it is a bit different... Also, sorry if my Italian isn't correct. I just used a translator online and so it probably isn't very correct. Please tell me if there are any mistakes so I can fix them. Anyways, this is the prologue. It's pretty long, so... sorry about that.**

* * *

"Samantha! Come on!" My older brother Jake yelled, laughing as he chased after me. We were currently playing tag in the forest near our house, using the thick trees and large bushes to our advantage and hiding instead of just running the entire time. Well, at least I _was_ doing the hiding thing, until Jake caught sight of me.

"You'll never catch me!" I yelled back as I ran towards a large, old, broken log that was lying across the path in front of me. I quickly transformed, seconds before I reached the log, and jumped over it, landing softly on my front paws and continuing to run as a puma.

I wasn't cheating, persay... I was just... Using my powers to my advantage. That might be considered cheating, but... Then again, my older brother's soulmate Karen, Jake and my twin brother Andrew could all transform into animals as well. Karen was a wolf with dark, almost black fur and teeth almost sharper than mine when I was puma.

As I ran, I glanced over my shoulder to see if my brother was catching up to me, but... He was nowhere in sight. _Maybe he just saw Karen or Andrew and decided to chase after them instead... _I thought as I slowed down my pace until I was just walking. I then stopped and transformed back into my human form with messy shoulder length Raven black hair, dark olive skin, freckles and sea green eyes with tiny streaks of crystal blue mixed in.

I stood up and closed my eyes, taking a few deep breaths before slowly opening them. I was standing in a large clearing. The water in the small pond that was just to my right splashed quietly every once in a while when a small jumped out and back in or a leaf fluttered down from a tree and landed on the crystal blue surface. The birds above sang a song with an unknown meaning to everyone but them. A soft breeze blew through the trees, rustling the leaves. Everything around me seemed so calm and cut off from the rest of the world's chaos that it seemed almost as if this place were in a whole different place in the universe.

I smiled softly and walked over to the pond, getting down onto my knees and reaching my hand towards the water. I wanted to feel it between my fingers and feel a bit of the strength it gave me so I could figure out what all I could do with my powers.

From the place where my fingertips touched the surface of the cool water small rippled went out and spread across the pond. When the last ripple became practically invisible in the other small rippled caused by the spring breeze, a strange shimmer of multicolored light flashed across the water's surface. Suddenly I felt a strangely strong tug on my wrist as if something was trying to pull me down into the pond. "What the..." I muttered as I tried to pull my wrist away from the water, only to be pulled back towards it more forcefully. I tried to pull my wrist away again but this time the tug on my wrist got even stronger and the next thing I knew I was falling forwards into water.

Instead of being surrounded by tiny white bubbles, blue water and sand kernels like I should have been, I was seemingly being pulled through an endless abyss of a huge mix of different colors. I couldn't feel anything, all I could hear was a soft buzzing and I had no idea which way was up and which was down. Everything sorta made me feel like I was dreaming.

I was abruptly pulled out of the weird dreamlike realm as if someone had woken me up. For a moment, as I stood on my hands and knees, breathing heavily, I thought I was back on the ground next to the pond in the forest. But when I opened my eyes and looked up, I realized that I was somewhere completely different. I was on the ground inside a huge cave with a very, very big and unusual tree growing in the middle of it. The tree's actual bronze branches covered the cave's entire ceiling and were covered in real emerald leaves and small flowers made of different kinds of gemstones.

I stared at the tree in a sort of daze for a few moments before slowly getting to my feet and hesitantly approaching the tree with my right hand outstretched. In the middle of the tree trunk was an oval of sixteen different kinds of gemstones and in the center of the oval was a large aquamarine stone that seemed to be glowing and getting brighter the closer I got.

The pale blue light illuminated my face as I stood in front of the tree, my right hand reaching up to touch the stone. I felt drawn to it, as if I was somehow connected to it. There was a strange feeling spreading through me, urging me to touch it, to find out what exactly it was. To find out what the strange tree was and why I felt connected to it.

My fingertips touched the smooth surface of the stone and suddenly a strong wind blew through the cave, rustling the unusual gemstone leaves of the tree. The wind blew over me too and suddenly an agonizing pain erupted in the back of my right wrist.

I screamed out in pain and stumbled backwards, gripping my right wrist tightly in my hand as the wind began to pick up it's pace. My clothes and hair blew all over the place, causing me to not be able to properly see what was going on around me. All I knew was my wrist felt like it was on fire and the wind was getting so strong that I could barely stand anymore.

The wind became stronger and stronger by the second until it shoved me around so much that I fell down. I curled myself into a ball on the ground, still gripping my wrist tightly to my chest, hoping the wind would slow down.

I whimpered as the wind just kept getting stronger and started to form a sort of tornado of what looked like stars and planets right in front of the tree. The tornado then slowly began to form a humanoid figure and began to solidify, the wind slowing down at the same time. The tornado dispersed and the wind completely stopped, leaving my hair a tangled mess and the glowing humanoid figure floating a few inches above the ground.

I carefully sat up, slowly letting go of my wrist even though it still burned painfully, as the glowing slowly faded around the figure. It was practically impossible to be able to tell what said figure looked like due to it's strange, misty and unclear appearance as it floated down to the ground. The second it's feet touched the earthy ground though the figure became solid and opened it's eyes. The figure was now a 19, 20 year old man with messy purple, blue, silver and brown hair, skin that was a similar shade to mine though it was also tinted somewhat blue and a somewhat muscular seeming build. His eyes where the most unusual thing about him though, his irises were an inky black with small flecks and swirls of different colours in them, as if small galaxies were in them.

I scrambled back a bit, not sure who this man was or what he wanted to do to me, considering what the Tree did I wouldn't be surprised if he was going to hurt me. I had no idea what he was capable of though. For all I knew he could have turned me into a star going supernova if his eyes gave away anything about his powers.

"I won't hurt you, young one. I am simply here to explain to you what you must know before going back to when you were." The man spoke softly, looking down at me and I gulped fearfully. His voice sounded so calm, almost as if I was supposed to end up here all along and this was all some sort of plan of his.

"Wh-Who are you? A-And wh-what do you me-mean by _when_?!" I demanded, swallowing my fear and standing up in an effort to make myself look braver than I felt. The man chuckled softly and walked towards me in swift strides, his feet barely making a sound as they touched the ground. I stood my ground as he approached me, even though I wanted nothing more than to back away from the stranger.

"Ah, I see why the Fates told me you were destined to be a leader and that you would be the best leader of the Seventeen. Even at such a young age you are already so brave and confident on the outside, yet, you're already becoming insecure on the inside... I wish that I could help you with that, but that is not my job, and those things are what make you, you anyways." The man said and knelt in front of me, studying me, mainly my face and especially my eyes, almost as if he were searching for something.

"You didn't answer my questions." I said, hoping my voice wasn't shaking because it would reveal to the man how scared I really was. "It's alright if you're scared of me. You din't know me, at least not yet you don't. Later you do, I believe, but that takes time and trust." The man said kindly and I gulped. "Answer my questions!" I yelled, glaring at him slightly, still jut wanting to know what the hell was going on.

"I am Chaos, the creator of all universes that exist and what I meant by _when_ is that... we are currently in a place where time doesn't work, no time passes in the outside world, while hours take place here. Anyone who comes in here won't age a bit and could technically stay here for years before going out at the same time they came in." The man explained and my eyes widen. I didn't even think about bowing to him like most demigods, especially Karen, would do. I just stared at him for a few moments as he looked at me with his piercing eyes that looked like the galaxies in them kept moving and changing.

"okay, if you are really Chaos, then why am I here?" I asked, raising an eyebrow whilst looking at him expectantly. "Give me your right wrist." he said instead of answering my question and I almost growled in frustration. "Why? Just because you're supposedly the first ever being to exist and are super powerful, doesn't mean I'm going to trust you." I snapped, finally gaining some confidence and crossing my arms over my chest. Chaos' lips turned up into a small smile, looking impressed. "I really am starting to like you. You're not like most heroes, to be respected by you someone must give you a reason to do so." He told me and I blinked, staring at him. "I'm not... I'm not a hero, I'm only five, and just barely that." I said, frowning at him in confusion as I tilted my head to the side slightly.

"Oh, not yet of course, but eventually, you shall be. You are destined to, by an ancient prophecy and now also that tattoo on the back of your right wrist." Chaos said and I immediately looked down at my wrist, which, sure enough, had a small tattoo of a trident with a splashing wave behind it and under that stood the words: _"The Leader of All"_ in neat, black handwriting. I stared at it in shock for a few seconds before snapping my head up to look at Chaos. "Why am _I_ the Leader?! I'm not any different from any other demigods!" i yelled and he only smiled knowingly down at me.

"You are very different, Samantha Lilly Grace Black, you just don't know it know it yet." Chaos said and touched my forehead with his pointer and middle finger.

Suddenly I was kneeling on the shore of the small pond with my fingertips touching the crystal blue surface of the water as if I I hadn't been anywhere else. The birds where still singing, the leaves still rustling in the wind and the water reflecting everything, including my pale and shocked face. I immediately pulled my hand back and stared at the back of my right wrist, hoping it had all been some sort of creation of my wild imagination, but the small attoo was still there and for some reason the wave almost looked like it was moving behind the trident.

* * *

_About a year later..._

Sometime around two in the morning one night when I was six years old, I was suddenly ripped out of out of my already uneasy sleep by a loud bang from just outside my family and I's house. The bang was quickly followed by a loud crash as if someone had knocked something really heavy and big onto the ground by the front door.

I sat bolt upright and immediately jumped up out of my bed, throwing my covers off of myself as all the tiny hairs on my body stood up like they did whenever I was scared of something. My eyes quickly darted from my closed bedroom door to my twin brother's bed, expecting him to have jumped out of bed as well but instead Andrew was still snuggled up in his blankets, his face half hidden in the covers.

"Five more minutes, Mum..." He mumbled and I raised an eyebrow in his direction at his reaction to the loud sounds from the other side of the house. _He's really strange sometimes... Wonder if he would even wake up if the fire alarm went off..._ I thought and rolled my eyes before taking a few quick steps in the direction of his bed, wanting to rip his blankets away from him and wake him up.

Right before I was gonna grab his blankets I suddenly heard the latch of my bedroom door click, causing me to freeze in place. I hoped it was just mother coming in to see if the noises had woken us up and if they had that she was gonna tell us that the bang was just a car engine outside on the street and that the crash had been her knocking something over in surprise due to the unexpected loud noise. Instead, my older brother, Jake, stuck his head through the gap between the doorframe and the door itself, his shoulder length dark brown hair even messier than usual.

"Sam, Andy, you guys need to get up right now, we have t-" Jake said as he quickly opened the wooden door to Andrew and I's room and ran in, glancing over his shoulder for a second with a tiny bit of panic written on his face. suddenly an explosion went off behind him in the hallway, interrupting him midsentence and sending him flying forward onto the floor face first, his clothes and hair slightly singed from the flames.

"Jake!" I screamed, my eyes widening in panic at the sight of my brother in such a state. My scream must have finally fully woken Andrew up because he groggily threw his blankets off of his legs and sat up quickly, looking around our bedroom for any signs of what had happened. His sea green eyes widened and his breathing quickened slightly when his eyes landed on the charred, blackened doorway and Jake lying injured on the floor with me staring at him in horror.

Andrew immediately jumped out of bed, stumbling over his own feet slightly due to how fast he had stood up and he took a step towards me. He reached his hand towards mine but he couldn't grab hold of it because of the next explosion that threw both of us backwards into the wall behind us. Flames licked my clothes, burning my skin through them until I blacked out from the pain and from my head banging into the wall.

_"Samantha! Svegliati! Dai! Per favore, svegliati!" _**(*"Samantha! Wake up! Come on! Please, wake up!"* Sorry if that's the incorrect Italian translation...)** Jake's voice yelled in my head after what felt like an eternity of nothing but the silence and pitch black that accompanies unconsciousness. His voice sounded panicked and fearful, immediately making me want to reassure him I was okay, but I couldn't. I was still unconscious and no matter how hard I concentrated on my brother's voice, I stayed that way. Soon after I was once again starting to sink back into the silent darkness of unconsciousness.

_"Sam, devi svegliarti subito! Abiammo bisogno di te!" _**(*"Sam, you need to wake up right now! We need you!"* Once again sorry if this was incorrect...) **Andrew's voice then yelled in my head and it was like his hand had grabbed hold of mine and pulled me out of the darkness and into the painful reality of being awake.

I groaned in pain, grimacing as a sudden wave of pain washed over me from the pounding in the back of my head and and the agonizing tingling that I felt everywhere from the burns I had sustained in the explosion. "Samantha!" Andrew yelled from somewhere to my left and I grunted lightly. I shifted the position I had been leaning against the wall in a bit too so that I was sitting up straighter.

"Oh, thank the gods." I heard Jake sigh in relief to my right and I slowly opened my eyes which sent tiny throbs of pain through my head. My eyes quickly darted around the room and took in the now black and charred remains of my bedroom. The whole place looked like a coal mine had been emptied into it and the furniture from a burnt down house had been thrown in as well.

As I looked around it took my mind a few moments just to comprehend the scene I was seeing before me other than the fact that my room was destroyed. My two brothers and I were chained to a wall that used to have our beds against it with thick celestial bronze cuffs; my mother was chained to the floor by similar chains and in front of us stood a group of people wearing different coloured, hooded cloaks that reminded me of how my mother had always described Voldemort's followers, the Death Eaters, when she told us what happened back then, especially because each of them had a wand pointed at one of my family members.

"Crucio!" The three cloaked people that were pointing their wands at my brothers and mamma yelled, catching me by surprise slightly. Shivers of fear ran down my spine as my family screamed in agony, my mother pleading for the people to only hurt her and to leave us alone.

Their screams made it feel like I was being tortured as well and tears sprang into my eyes. In a way I was being tortured since I had no way to block out their screams or looks of agony and I couldn't make them stop either. Their screams continued to echo through the house, making my ears ring and my family tried to escape the clutches of the curse.

"Stop! Please! Hurt me, not them! Please!" I burst out, tears streaming down my face as I looked up at the cloaked people. In response all of them lifted their wands above their heads and seemed to break the curse, leaving my family trying to catch their breath from their constant screaming.

"Ah, if it isn't the famous daughter of the Sea. Finally decided to join us?" The only one out of the cloaked people who hadn't been torturing some of my family said. He stepped forward then, twirling his wand around in his thin, pale and scarred fingers as if all this was just some amusing game to him.

He knelt down to my height and I saw a smirk spread across his scarred pale pink lips under the hood of his moose green cloak. "From all the legends I had assumed you would be much older and more intimidating, but instead... you're just a weak, pathetic little girl who doesn't have a clue who she's dealing with." The man's voice was raspy and menacing at the same time. He then let out a hearty chuckle and shook his head slightly, his smirk never faltering. "What a disappointment."

I growled at him, baring my now fully grown puma teeth at the man in front of me as I glared daggers at him. "Really? That's all you've got? You're even more pathetic than I thought." He scoffed and stood up, once again shaking his head lightly. "Let's see how long it takes me to break you. I've wanted to do this ever since i heard of that godsdamn prophecy about you and your pathetic little demigod team and my universe's versions of you all came and took Ethan from me." He said, scowling as he pointed his neatly crafted wand me, it's tip poking me in the chest right where my heart was. "Language." I stated and smirked slightly when I saw a look of confusion flash before his eyes. Then he scowled at me again, his nostrils flaring as he pressed the tip of his wand a bit further into my chest, causing me to flinch slightly.

Suddenly an excruciating pain spread through me, starting in my chest where his wand was touching me and quickly spreading like wildfire. Screams of such agony that I had never imagined myself capable of making coming from my throat. I balled my hands to such tight fists that my fingernails dug so deep into my palms that they cut small, crescent shaped marks into my skin which began to bleed. Than pain was worse than I had ever imagined when my mum had described what it was like in the last Wizarding War against Voldemort and how certain spells felt so we would be prepared if we ever encountered them. It felt like my bones were being set on fire one by one, burning my muscles, boiling my blood and melting my skin while I screamed.

Then it stopped suddenly and I was left with my whole body aching and my lungs desperately trying to fill themselves with air as I panted, my eyes fluttering open and closed several times. I felt incredibly weak all over and I was leaning back against the wall I was chained to as I shook violently.

"I can't believe I ever thought_ you_ would be my downfall because of some stupid prophecy from all those Melenias ago... You're just a weak, pathetic little girl." The man who had tortured me chuckled emotionlessly as he shook his head in disbelief. Slowly I raised my head to look up at him, my eyes narrowed.

"Who are you?!" I demanded, glaring at the man in front of me again who in turn just smirked slightly. "What do you want from us?!" Jake added, seeming to have regained his ability to speak. I glanced over at him briefly and saw that he too was glaring at the man, his fists clenched so tight his knuckles were almost white.

"I am Damon Ramirez, or as I prefer it, The Dark Sorcerer. And I am here to make you suffer and then kill you, you stupid girl." The man growled and Jake's eyes flashed dangerously as he tried to stand up but fell back due to his chains.

"Don't call my sister stupid!" Jake yelled and "The Dark Sorcerer" glanced over at him for a moment, seemingly to only be mildly annoyed by what Jake had just said, before turning back to face me. "And hurting and killing your family will make you suffer and cause you great loss, making you vulnerable, which is exactly what I want." He said, his messed up lips once again forming a nasty smirk as he nodded over his shoulder at the other cloaked people as if giving them secret orders. The people all raised their wands at the same time and pointed them at my mamma and my brothers, whereas The Dark Sorcerer pointed his strangely sharp wand at my chest again.

"Crucio!"

The pain and agony from before was back in seconds and this time it was even worse than before. I screamed again and squeezed my eyes shut, fighting against tears. This time it not only felt like my bones were on fire but also as if my skin was being ripped apart while it was melting, as if my throat was being filled with acid and as if my heart was being stabbed with dozens of knives at once.

"Papà! Please, we need your help!" I whimpered without really thinking. I had never asked my father for help before and never wanted to because I thought he would think I was weak and couldn't take care of myself, but my mouth acted without my brain telling it to do anything.

"You're asking your _father_ for help?" The Dark Sorcerer laughed as he and the other people once again lifted the curse they had been putting on us. "He doesn't care about you! He left you and he's not coming back. Not tonight. Not ever!" The Dark Sorcerer yelled, seeming to suppress another laugh. "You don't know a thing about my father!" I yelled back and I glared at the man. "He'll come, trust me..." I said, not even sure why I did but still hoping I was right. He simply chuckled dryly whilst shaking his head as he seemed to do quite often.

"You know hard life is, girl, especially for us demigods. We mean nothing to those beings who call themselves gods, we're just their pawns who fight their battles for them! They won't help you when you need them most, even if they're supposed to be your family. And it won't be any different for you, sweetheart." The Dark Sorcerer said, shaking his head as if he were disappointed I didn't know this.

I narrowed my eyes at him and growled, my puma fangs growing once again. I knew the gods didn't always care all too much, but this an wasn't right about everything, we weren't their pawns. Not here in this universe we weren't at least. I knew that was partially true in some universes, but now here, not in the first universe.

"Don't call me sweetheart, capisco?!" I growled, extending my claws out of my fingers as well and The Dark Sorcerer seemed slightly shocked, as if he was not expecting my sudden outburst. I grinned slightly, I had managed to surprise him by turning into a bit of a Wolverine like person. "Get that grin off your face, girl!" He growled and raised his wand again, pointing it at my chest.

I screamed in agony and writhed in pain on the floor of my now destroyed bedroom as the curse hit me again. I couldn't take it anymore, i wanted it all to stop, i wanted... I wanted the man to just end it already and to leave my family alone, but the torture just went on for what felt like hours.

By the time it stopped I was lying on my side on the floor, my knees pulled up to my chest as i shook vigorously, tears streaming down my face and making me feel so, so very weak and vulnerable. Like I didn't deserve to be my father's daughter. Like I was a dishonor to my family.

The Dark Sorcerer said something to his followers, or whatever the other cloaked people were, but I couldn't understand anything he was saying. It all just sounded like a muffed, unidentifiable sound because the ringing in my ears from my own screams were too loud and drowned everything else out.

I wearily opened my eyes, hoping to be able to see what was going on around me, but all I could see were fuzzy outlines of the cloaked people towering over me.

Suddenly the pain came back out of nowhere and my mouth opened, trying to scream but no sounds came out. I had used my vocal cords to much and I was too weak to do anything but scream silently and squeeze my eyes shut so tight I couldn't see any light through my eyelids. Agonizing pain coursed through my bones, my chest and my head as I waited for it all to come to an end. But it didn't, even when the curse was finally lifted minutes later every inch of my body felt like I had been burned alive and brought back to life by my uncle, Hades, god of the Underworld.

Everything sounded so off and unclear. I couldn't make out a word anyone was saying, couldn't see what was going on around me and I kept drifting in and out of consciousness.

When I was finally able to stay awake I squinted at the figures in front of me, my vision clearing enough for me to make out the other people in the room. The ringing in my ears was slowly beginning to fade and I could hear a voice, my mother's voice, pleading and begging the cloaked people to kill her and not us.

"Mamma... d-don't..." I managed to say in a quiet, raspy voice. I tried to push myself into a sitting position against the wall but my arms gave away under me before I could even get myself onto my hands and knees, causing me to grunt in pain as my head hit the ground.

"Move out of the way, woman, or we will kill you as well." I heard The Dark Sorcerer growl at my mother and with one glance upwards I saw him pointing his sharp wand at my mother. She was still on her knees on the carpeted floor, her hands still cuffed together by tight, thick bronze cuffs and chains.

"No! Kill me if you must but leave my children alone!" Mamma yelled and looked up at Dark Sorcerer with a determined expression on her face. "If you want to die for them, so be it, but we will kill her no matter what you do." He said and then there was a bright flash of green light and my mother was on the ground, her eyes open and unseeing, glassy.

"MAMMA!" I screamed, my voice breaking from both voice loss and sorrow. I distantly heard my brothers yelling the same thing and The Dark Sorcerer laughing, as if this were all some amusing joke to him, but it all sounded muffled, like I was under water and the were above the surface. "Pathetic." I then heard The Dark Sorcerer say and suddenly his wand was being pointed at my head. My tear filled eyes widened in slight fear but mostly shock before I closed them mumbling under my breath: "I'm sorry... I love you, Jake and Andrew..."

"Already accepting your death now are we? Maybe you aren't as stupid as I originally thought." The Dark Sorcerer said and I opened my eyes for a brief second before squeezing them shut again. The last thing I saw before everything went black was a bright green bolt of lightning racing towards me.

For a moment all I saw was darkness, empty, terrifying silent pitch black darkness with nowhere to go and nothing to see anywhere. Then suddenly all of the air seemed to be knocked out of me (How that worked when I was dead made no sense to me) and all of the sudden I was seemingly floating above a boy about my age's room. The boy himself had messy ink black hair, dark olive skin, freckles and from what I could tell dark brown eyes. He was sitting at his desk, drawing something on one of the multiple pieces of paper spread across it. For a moment everything seemed normal but then I noticed that the boy kept whimpering and wincing in pain.

Suddenly he screamed out in pain and his left hand flew up to his forehead where the killing cure had hit me. His right hand wrapped tightly around his left wrist as well, right where his soulmate tattoo was on his forearm. "What's happening? What..." The boy's strangely familiar muttered as he let his hands fall back onto the desk, tears beginning to slowly roll down his cheeks.

His hands landed on top of his drawings and for a few seconds he just stared at his wrists, his wide tear-filled eyes panicked. His breathing was quickly becoming quick and uneven, coming out in short, panicked wheezes. His right arm was lying on top of a surprisingly drawing of Hades' symbol and his left arm was on a drawing of Hermes' staff. His right arm was lying palm down, showing a tattoo with the symbol of Hades surrounded by shadows with the words _"The Strength of the Team"_ under it in the same neat handwriting as my own tattoo. His left arm was lying palm up, revealing his soulmate tattoo. Its colours were slowly fading into black, grey and white, the same and birthday of his soulmate beginning to appear under it. His soulmate was dying.

_Why am I seeing this? Who... Who is he?_ I thought and suddenly his soulmate tattoo was completely colourful again, the name and date disappearing from under it. The boy continued to stare at it, his jaw now hanging open slightly and his eyes still filled with tears but also shocked and relieved. "Wh-What just happened?!" He mumbled under his breath, blinking the tears out of his eyes so that they now rolled down his cheeks and dripped off his cheeks onto his wrists.

I wanted to see more, to find out who he was, why I was here, why this seemed important and why he was so familiar but suddenly I was engulfed in a bright sea green light. It seemed to suck me out of the room and back into the empty darkness from before for a few moments. Then I sat bolt upright and the green light faded from around me.

I found myself staring into the tear-filled sea green eyes of my father, exactly the same shade of green as mine. I fearfully looked around the room, trying to get my rapid breathing to slow down. Both of my brothers were kneeling next to me as well while my mother laid motionlessly on the ground about ten feet away.

Tears built up in my eyes as reality struck me. None of this had happened in my mind or had been some kind of obscure illusion someone had made me see. My mother was really dead and I had just met my destined worst enemy. Now I was just a hurt, vulnerable little girl with two hurt brothers and a father who couldn't take them in because it was against the laws of the gods to raise demigods on Olympus.

"Wh-What's going to h-happen no-now?" I sobbed out and my father pulled me into his chest, stroking my hair softly. "We'll figure something out, sweetheart, I promise." He whispered softly and I continued to sob into his chest.

"How... H-How did I-I survive th-that? I... I... I should be d-dead... j-just like Mamma... I... how?" I asked my father with a quiet, shaking voice after I had finally managed to get control over my sobbing and pulled away from the hug. "I don't know... I really don't know, Samantha..." Poseidon replied sadly and I took a deep, shaking breath as I nodded slightly. I turned away from him and threw myself at my brothers, hugging them tightly as tears once again began rolling down my cheeks. Our mother was gone and I was pretty sure there was no way she was gonna come back like I somehow had...

* * *

_About two weeks later..._

"Papà, why do I have to live with them? Why can't I just have the same foster family as Drew and Jake? I'I don't want to go live with some couple that I don't know..." I told my father with a shaking voice as we stood in front of the still closed door of my new home, a simple one story house with a nice garden, a front porch and a small backyard.

"I wish I could keep you three together, but... I'm not in control of what the government does. Nobody knows I'm you three's father and if they found some kind of proof that I was... you three would be locked up and in more danger than pretty much anywhere else. I-I really don't want you to have to go through that." Poseidon said while looking down at me sadly, causing me to sigh and look away from him.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I wanted him to use his godly powers to make them put my brothers and me in the same foster home, but the rest of me knew he couldn't. Usually the power would fade slowly and the mortals would wonder why the heck they put us together. Then they would assume that Inhumans had something to do with it and we would be in big trouble. It was better like this and it wasn't like I was banned from seeing my brothers, I was just gonna be living with a different family than them until my Papà allowed me to go to Camp Olympus. Everything was gonna be okay, at least that's what I told myself. Something felt off about everything here; it all felt sorta faked, like an illusion to hide what everything was really like.

"Okay. I-I'll live here." I gave in hesitantly, biting my lower lip slightly. "But you have to visit me at least once a month." I added, unable to stop myself due to the weird uneasy feeling I had. "Deal." He said and for a second I thought I heard the same uncertainty I felt in his voice. then he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a hug.

"I'll miss you, y'know... even if I never really saw you before... before Mamma d-died..." I said, trailing off at the end as tears gathered in the corners of my eyes. "I'll miss you too, sweetheart. Also, I have something for you before I leave in case you're ever in danger..." Papà said as he pulled away, raising his right hand slightly so that his palm was facing the sky.

Suddenly there was a bright flash of sea green light on his palm and a small chest of dark, polished wood with bronze hinges and a gold lock and bronze key appeared. "There are a few things in here that'll help you if you're ever in trouble like if you're attacked by monsters or that Dark Sorcerer guy." Poseidon said and I carefully took the chest from his hands, holding it close to my chest.

"Thank you, Papà." I whispered, a few tears pricking my eyes as I hugged him. "I love you..." I added quietly, my voice muffled and Papà wrapped his arms around me again. A wave of comfort and protection washed over me for the first time in weeks and I felt all of the tension leave me, causing me to start shaking slightly.

"I love you too, Sam..." He muttered and then suddenly I heard the front door of the house open , causing my father and I to pull away from our hug and face the door. A man, maybe twenty three or so, with short strawberry blond hair and grey blue eyes that seemed to see right through me and burn with well concealed anger stood in the doorway, his face contorted in a scowl and his arms crossed.

"You're the girl we're taking in I assume? Kierra insisted we take you in and I can't say no to her, but you have to behave if you're gonna stay. Finish saying your goodbyes to whoever this is and then come inside." The man said and then turned around, walking back into the house.

Something in the back of my mind seemed to tell me not to do anything he says and to plead my father to not leave me here and to take me with him instead. I knew I couldn't do that though. Not only would he never do that, he had more important things to deal with than me, but I also didn't want to seem weaker to him than i already did.

"I-I-I think you have to go now... I mean, you probably have godly business to attend to and... I don't want you to get in trouble with... Uncle Z." I said and nervously rubbed my left arm with my right thumb. I kept my arm crossed over my chest, hugging the wooden chest my father had given me close to me.

"I'm sorry, but you're right, sweetheart... I have to get going. I love you and... stay safe." Papà said, causing me to snort slightly with laughter as I uncrossed my arms. A few tears were still gathered in my eyes despite my small laugh, threatening to escape and roll down my cheeks like the others.

"It's okay and... as for the staying safe thing, well... I'll try my best." I said, gripping the chest tightly in my right hand as I wrapped my arms around my father again.

"Goodbye, stay safe, stay strong and remember that I love you... even if I can't be around a whole bunch." Papà said and wrapped his arms around me as well, kissing the top of my head softly.

"Bye, Papà." I whispered and he carefully pulled out of the hug. He then knelt down to my height and placed his hands on my cheeks, softly wiping the tears that had managed to escape away. "Now, I really do have to go. I'll see you in a month. And remember, when you're old enough I'll take you to Camp Olympus." Papà said and I nodded, averting eye contact with him for a few moments as more tears rolled down my cheeks.

"Hey, it's okay. You'll be safe here, me showing up every month should make sure of that." Papà whispered and wiped the tears off of my cheeks, stroking my hair back out of my face before standing up as I nodded slightly. "Okay, I love you, sweetheart... See you soon." He said and smiled softly before he disappeared in a flash of golden light, which I averted my eyes from until it was completely gone.

I sighed, looking down as I grabbed the small suitcase I had. Then I walked up the steps and into the house the would become one for my worst fears for the next couple years, dragging my suitcase behind me.

* * *

_a year and nine months later..._

"Starfish, we should probably both head home now. It's getting late..." Jake said as we walked through a small park a few blocks away from where my foster family lived and I immediately stopped walking, causing him to stop as well and turn to face me with a confused and worried look on his face.

"I don't wanna go... home." I said, saying the word 'home' as if it was the worst thing ever, which for me, it kind of was.

"Why not? You look super tired, you should go to bed and I can tell you want to. To do that, you have to go home." Jake said and I bit my lip nervously.

Except I won't be able to sleep when I get home... I thought but said nothing about it, knowing I would get in even more trouble than I already was for telling someone.

"Samantha, it's past the time when you were supposed to be home, I don't want you to get grounded or something because I didn't bring you home on time..." Jake said and reached for my hand to make me keep going but I shook my head, pulling my hand away and stepping back.

They'll do worse than ground me... I thought and a wave of fear washed over me, causing me to shiver slightly.

"Samantha, are you okay?" Jake asked and knelt down to my height so that he could look into my eyes. "I-I'm... I'm fine." I said trying to hide my actual fear, but my voice must have been trembling because Jake's face became even more worried.

"Sam, it's okay. What's wrong?" He asked but before I could say anything I suddenly stiffened and fell to the ground, unable to move.

"Samantha! Wh-" Jake started but his voice seemed to suddenly fail him and he scrambled backwards, a look of terror on his face.

I tried to turn my head to look over my shoulder so that I could see what had scared my older brother so much, but I was frozen, paralyzed.

"Pathetic, scared to go home to her little foster family." A raspy voice said from behind me and I felt my breath hitch and my heart rate speed up in terror.

No, not him, please not him. This has to be a nightmare, this isn't real, no, no, no!! I thought in panic as someone stepped over me and then knelt down in front of me, grabbing a fist full of my now elbow length hair and forcing me to look the person in the face.

The Dark Sorcerer didn't have his hood on this time, making his pale, most likely once good looking, scarred face visible along with his terrifying obsidian black eyes and long dirty blonde hair that was pulled back into a loose ponytail visible. His scarred lips were pulled into an evil smirk and his eyes glinted with amusement.

"I would love to kill you now, but, considering how that ended last time I'm assuming that I won't be able to for the time being, so... I'm just making you suffer." He growled and let go of my hair, causing my head to fall back onto the ground. Pain shot through my head and if I wasn't paralyzed I probably would have groaned in pain and squeezed my eyes shut.

"I already killed your oh so precious mother, and now... I think I'll just take your brother here." The Dark Sorcerer said as he walked over to Jake who desperately tried to get away from the man, looking at him in fear as he reached his hand towards him.

Suddenly Jake was wrapped in pitch black ropes that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and was lifted off of the ground, towards The Dark Sorcerer. Jake struggled against his bindings, desperately trying to escape them, but it was no use, the more he struggled the tighter the bonds seemed to become, like snakes when they strangle you.

The Dark Sorcerer smirked as he grabbed hold of my brother and wrapped his right arm around his neck, his forearm pressed against his throat, causing Jake to start to choke. "Sam...antha, g-go, I, I love you an... I'll get out and ... find you, I ... promise." Jake managed to say whilst trying to properly breath and The Dark Sorcerer smirked at him for a moment before looking at me, his eyes still glinting in amusement.

"Good luck getting your brother back, Daughter of the Sea." He said and suddenly he and my brother disappeared in a cloud of black mist.

The second they were gone I was suddenly able to move again and the first thing I did was scream in despair and pull my knees to my chest. Tears were streaming down my face and sobs wracked my body as the events that had just happened replayed over and over in my mind as if it was a GIF with sound.

This was all my fault, it was my fault that my brother had just been kidnapped by my destined worst enemy and that he was probably going to be tortured or even killed.

A small voice in the back of my head kept telling me that it wasn't my fault and that I couldn't have done anything to help, but I ignored it. That voice was wrong, it was my fault, it was all my fault.

You're no use to your brother lying on the ground sobbing. Go home and deal with the William's punishment for being home late and then send a message to Dad. That's what you need to do right now. A voice said in my head and my sobs slowly turned into small hiccups as I pushed myself up onto my knees and shakily stood up, looking around to see if anyone else was around before teleporting right in front of my current home.

I took a deep, shaky breath and wiped the tears off of my face before slowly and hesitantly walking towards the front door, which I shakily knocked on.

I squeezed my eyes shut as I heard Mark's angry stomping footsteps towards the door. The door was thrown open and there stood Mark Williams, my foster father, with a red face and narrowed grey blue eyes that glared at me like I was the devil's child.

"Inside. Now!" He barked and grabbed me by my hair, pulling me through the doorway and slamming the door behind me, which sounded like a gunshot to my enhanced hearing and made me wince slightly.

"What took you so long, freak?!" Mark demanded as he pulled me by my hair into the kitchen with grey marble counters and a white floor tiles.

"W-We didn't have a clock, we didn't know what time it was!" I tried to explain but received a punch in the face that threw me onto the floor, causing my head to come in contact with the cool tiles of the floor. I had learned to hide my pain from him because otherwise he would just do even worse to me.

"Then you should have come home as soon as the sun started going down! Who knows who you could show those freak powers you have to! Then we'd be arrested for hosting an inhuman being! You should be glad we have even let you stay here and have fed you instead of throwing you out onto the streets!" Mark yelled and then kicked me in the stomach and punched me in a bunch of other places.

He then grabbed me by my hair again and pulled me to my feet before pushing me against the marble kitchen island. I couldn't stop the groan that escaped my lips as my back hit the hard marble and I saw Mark smirk slightly at that.

He grabbed a large kitchen knife from the counter and smirked down at me as my eyes widened in fear. He raised the knife, ready to strike, and before my mind could quite comprehend what was happening the knife slashed across my face leaving a long gash that ran from my right eyebrow, across the bridge of my nose and down to my left jawline.

For a moment the gash felt numb, like it was only a mere scratch but then my face erupted in pain as blood slowly started to roll down my face from the wound.

I clamped my hands over my face and squeezed my eyes shut as tears started to roll down my face, my salty tears and metallic tasting blood mixing together.

I felt Mark kick me in the stomach again but, unlike what I was expecting, another one never came. Instead there was a bright flash of light in front of me and I heard my father's voice yell: "Stay away from my daughter!"

Everything that happened next seemed to go by in a flash, as if I was watching it on fast forward. All I managed to catch was that my father knocked Mark unconscious, called the police and then started to help me with the gash on my face until the police arrived and took Mark away.

I heard one of the officers saying to find Kierra, Mark's wife, and to bring her in for questioning about if she knew about the fact that Mark was abusing me.

The police had questioned my father about how he had found me being abused by Mark and, to tell the truth, I am positive that he used the Mist to make them believe that he was an old family friend of my mother and had come by to see how I was doing when he found me being beat up by Mark, but I didn't mention it, even after the police officers had let Papá take care of me.

Once all of the officers were gone my father carefully touched the gash on my face and I winced in pain before slowly relaxing as I felt my father use his powers to make salt water spread onto the wound which made it slowly start to close up, most likely leaving a bad scar.

"P-Papá, J-Jake..." I started to say but he cut me off by whispering a soft "I know" as he finished fixing up the gash as best he could and looked down at me sadly.

"We'll find him, I promise. I will do everything in my power to do so." He said and I felt some tears build up in the corners of my eyes and I buried my face in my hands as tears started to roll down my cheeks again. "This is my fault, this is all my fault." I whispered over and over, rocking back and forth with my knees pulled up to my chest.

"Samantha, none of this is your fault. It's gonna be okay, but... I think I need to send you someplace safe until you can go to Camp Olympus..." Papá said and I looked up at him, my tears momentarily stopping in shock. "A-What do you mean?" I asked hesitantly and he looked down at me sadly.

"I think that you should go live with a normal family named the Browns that I've been keeping an eye on for a while to see if they would work for you. I'm planning on using the Mist so that they believe you are have been their adopted daughter since you were a baby and for you to... Just live a normal life, but, for it to be safer, I decided that you, using your powers to live in more than one place at once, should also live in Vegas with this nice young woman named Ashley Waters and for you to go to school there, with a demigod who I believe is one of the Seventeen." Papá said and I blinked, trying to process the information.

"I-I... I suppose, but, make sure Andrew stays safe, don't let anything happen to him, okay? And make sure Chris and Aunt Sabrina are safe too, okay? " I said and he smiled sadly at me.

"I won't let him out of my sights, and that Dark Sorcerer guy won't even have a chance at getting his hands on him. And Hermes never lets Chris, or your aunt out of sights either. They're both safe with him." He said and I smiled slightly, hugging my father tightly.

"Okay... Wh-when am I going to live with the other families?" I asked, stuttering slightly because, to tell the truth, I was scared of living with a new family after what had happened with my last one...

"Once you say goodbye to Andrew..." He said and I nodded, taking a deep breath as I stood up shakily.

"Let's go..." I whispered and Papá looked down at me sadly as he placed his hand on my shoulder and we teleported to Andrew's foster parents house to both tell them about Jake and to also... Say goodbye to Andy...

Papá carefully knocked on the door and I heard running footsteps coming in the direction of Andrew's foster family's front door.

"Jake, we were really ge- wait, Samantha?! P-Poseidon? Where's Jake?" Amanda, Andrew and Jake's Foster mother, demanded, her eyes widening in fear when she realized he wasn't with us even though he had been with me earlier.

"Jake... Is missing, Amanda, he was kidnapped... By... The Dark Sorcerer..." Papá said and I looked down as Amanda took a shaky breath, a few tears coming into her eyes.

"O-okay, c-come in..." Amanda said, her voice breaking slightly as she let us into the house, me clinging onto my father as tightly as I could, not wanting to let go no matter what.

"Andrew! Y-you need to come down here!" Amanda called and second later Andy came running down the stairs with a hopeful look on his face that immediately melted when he saw Papá and I standing in the hallway with sad looks.

"Wh-what happened to Jake? Samantha, what happened to your face? Who did that to you?" He asked with a shaking voice, biting his lip nervously.

"Jake's... The Dark Sorcerer has him, Andrew..." Papá said and tears filled Andy's eyes as he slowly started to walk towards us before he sprinted towards us and hugged us tightly.

"Y-you're gonna find him, Papá, right?" He whispered and my father nodded, looking down sadly. "I'm going to do everything that I can." He said and, to me, it sounded like he was saying he wasn't actually sure how much that was.

"I-Is Samantha still staying with the Williams or... Is she going to stay with me now?" Andrew whispered and my father ran his hand through Andrew's hair, brushing it out of his face. "She's going somewhere else." Papá said softly and Andrew looked up at him in shock for a moment before he looked at me.

"Please don't go..." He whispered and hugged me, burying his face in my shoulder as he started to sob. "I can't live without my twin..." I wrapped my arms around him as well and could feel tears slowly rolling down my cheeks as well.

"I don't want to go either... But, it-it's for the best. If I'm not here, then... He won't come for you..." I whispered, my voice breaking as a sob escaped my throat.

"But I don't want you to leave..." He whispered and I could feel him sobbing uncontrollably as he hugged me tighter. "I don't want to either, but... I have to..." I whispered, his sobs breaking my heart as if I was being stabbed.

"I-if you have to... will-will I at least be able to talk to you?" He asked quietly and I glanced up at my Papá who nodded slightly, smiling sadly at us.

"Of course, I can Iris message you as much as you want." I said and this seemed to calm him down slightly.

"O-okay, I-I love you..." He whispered and pulled out of the hug, wiping his eyes with the palm of his right hand. "I-I-I'm gonna miss you so much..." Andrew whispered and I hugged him again, tears streaming down my face all over again.

"Me too..." I whispered and to be honest, we probably just stood there, hugging and crying for at least fifteen minutes before we finally pulled apart, saying goodbye and that we love each other about fifty times until my father said that I had to go now.

"Goodbye, Andy, I love you..." I whispered one last time and hugged him before grabbing Papá's hand, looking at Andrew sadly before we teleported away.

"It'll be fine, nobody in my new lives will know who I really am or what happened to me... I can hopefully just act like myself without anyone judging me..." I whispered as I walked into my new normal family's house as if I had just come home from a school, glancing over my shoulder for a second and whispering a last goodbye to my father as he disappeared.


	2. One

_Six years later..._

_January 12, 2019_

_Queens, New York_

"-antha? Hello? Are you even listening to what we're talking about?" I winced as my redheaded best friend snapped her fingers in front of my face after stopping in front of me, causing me to be torn out of my childhood memories. "U-Uhh... I'm sorry, I'm a, uhh... bit distracted..." I sighed dejectedly and ran a hand down my face before looking at Stef with an apologetic smile. "What were we talking about?" I asked and she rolled her eyes, huffing in annoyance.

"Soulmates, seriously, Sam, you never pay attention to what we're talking about anymore. You're always so distracted." Sophia said and I looked down, sighing again, my thoughts drifting back to all of the memories that I wished I could forget.

I didn't mean to get distracted so easily, but my ADHD constantly made my mind drift off, usually to my older brother, Jake, who was still missing after six years or to that cave with the strange bronze tree that I had ended up coming across when I was five.

"Sorry, I'm just... going through a lot right now, okay?" I said, closing my eyes and rubbing the bridge of my nose with my thumb and pointer finger, trying not to get distracted again.

"We're here if you need someone to talk to." Sophia said, wrapping her left arm around my shoulders, causing me to stiffen and clench my fists. Even though it had been six whole years since I had been abused by the Williams I still didn't like being touched by anyone, in any way.

"I know, but, it's nothing that I need to bother you with." I said, shrugging Soph's arm off of my shoulders. "What were you guys talking about again? Soulmates, right? What about them?" I asked, trying to change the subject whilst subconsciously fiddling with the zipper of my aviator jacket. I continued walking in the direction of the ice rink we were going to, forcing Sophia and Stefanie to follow me to be able to keep talking to me.

"About who our soulmates are, you've never actually let us see your tattoo, what does it look like? Have you met your soulmate yet?" Stefanie asked, looking at me with her midnight blue eyes with an eyebrow raised as she caught up to my pace and walked right next to me.

I immediately looked away from her, my right hand fiddling with my left sleeve nervously, tugging at it, trying to cover my colourful soulmate tattoo that had the date 2/9/2013 etched into my skin under it with my jacket's thick sleeve.

"Umm... I-" I started, wanting to make up some excuse as to why I didn't want to show them my tattoo, but I interrupted myself by freezing in place for a moment when I caught sight of the dark brown mane of a large male lion and the head of a large green and black snake in the bushes near us.

My eyes widened and I carefully, trying to go unnoticed by my friends and the creature, reached into my jacket's right hand pocket and wrapped my fingers tightly around my "mascara", ready to pull it out and turn it into a sword or a trident at any signs of attack.

"I don't wanna talk about it." I said, trying to act as if I hadn't seen anything and was still caught in my conversation with my friends even though I never really was because, to be honest, the whole soulmates thing seemed kind of pointless to me.

"Why not? Is your soulmate... dead or something?" Sophia asked and a shiver ran my spine at the thought of my soulmate, who I had known since I was eight, lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood. "No, he's not." I whispered, swallowing my momentary panic from the idea.

"Him? So it's a guy, which means that you've met soulmate already, because you know that..." Stefanie said, grinning at me with twinkling eyes.

"Who is it? That Hayden guy you talk about sometimes?" She demanded, grabbing my shoulders and looking right into my eyes with a huge grin on her face like every time she talked about anything to do with love or soulmates.

"No... Someone else..." I said, biting my lip nervously due to, a) the small amount of space in between Stef and I's faces and b) because I saw the creature that I assumed to be a monster move closer to us, obviously waiting for the perfect moment to attack.

She smirked at me and suddenly her hand started to reach for my left wrist, trying to grab it. I immediately took a step back and glared at her slightly.

"You don't have to see what my soulmate tattoo looks like, okay? Why does everyone care so much about what it looks like anyways?! It's literally just a tattoo that represents the three main things about your soulmate! What's so interesting about it to the people who's it isn't?!" I snapped and immediately clamped my hand over my mouth when I saw Stefanie's eyes widen in shock at my outburst, I had never snapped at her like that.

"I-I-I'm sorry, I didn't m-mean to snap at you, I-I..." I said, my voice shaking. I hated doing so much as just yelling at my friends and I had just done exactly that.

"Sammy, it's okay. I didn't have the right to try and forcefully see what your tattoo looks like. I get it, I snap at you and Sophia all the time, just calm down." Stefanie said, looking at at me with her hands raised slightly as if she wanted to place them on my shoulders but was hesitating to do so.

A strange sense of calm washed over me for no reason at her words, almost as if she was able to charm me into being calm just by telling me to be. I stared at her in shock as I slowly lowered my hands, in a kind of trance. "How did you-?" I started to ask but was interrupted by a sudden force knocking me to the ground.

I quickly shook myself out of whatever trance I had been in and stared up at the lion head that was baring it's incredibly long, sharp fangs down at me, angry at myself for letting myself become vulnerable for a moment, giving the monster a chance to attack me. Now I wouldn't be able to help my friends all too much if there were other monsters that were to attack them.

"Daughter of the Sssssea." A voice hissed and I suddenly felt a large cobra like snake start to wrap itself around me, squeezing me so tight that I started to lose the ability to breathe.

I have to escape this as fast as possible, otherwise I will pass out and the monster will kill me before attacking Sophia and Stefanie as well...

I closed my eyes, clenching my hands to fists, concentrating on myself disappearing from the snake's clutches and appearing in front of my two best friends who were standing at least five feet away and were both kind of just staring at what was going on in front of them in fear.

I felt myself dissolve into a kind of ocean mist and then reform in front of my friends, facing the Chimera that had decided that today of all days, the day that I was spending with my two supposedly mortal friends, it would attack me, which meant that I would have to use the Mist on them later so that they wouldn't remember anything unusual happening.

"Y-You were just there, under the Chimera, and now you're here. Y-you teleported from there to here. Y-You..." Sophia stuttered behind me, her jaw gaping open as her sky blue eyes flickered from the Chimera, which was now growling at me and looking ready to lunge forward and tackle me again, to me and back again.

Sophia can see through the Mist?! How?! I wondered but quickly had to shake the thought off as I reached into my pocket and pulled out my mascara, quickly pulling the lid off of it making it turn into a trident.

I twirled my celestial bronze trident around in my right hand as I walked towards the Chimera who suddenly pounced at me and tried to slash it's claws across my chest, missing me by an inch or two since I leaned out of the way and then did two back flips, landing on one knee in a crouching position on the ground after the second flip.

Superhero landing! I applauded myself in my mind, smirking slightly as I looked up at the Chimera that was now charging at me again, it's snake tail hissing at me with green venom dripping down it's fangs. I wrinkled my nose slightly as it charged at me, the smell of reptile getting into my nose and making me want to gag.

I jumped to my feet and kicked the Chimera's lion head in the snout before slashing my trident across it as I dodged the snake tail, which was trying awfully hard to sink it's fangs into some part of me.

I raised my right hand as I hit the creepy goat head that was attached to the lion's back next to it's head with the butt of my trident, smirking when the goat head started to slowly dissolve into golden dust.

A stream of water appeared out of thin air above my raised hand and I spun around in the air, wrapping the now solid stream of water around the snake as if it were some sort of lasso rope and then pulled, successfully managing to close it's fang filled mouth meaning that it no longer had a chance to bite me.

I then jumped up, letting the wind carry me slightly and spun midair, stabbing my trident into the back of the Chimera's neck, through the thick layers of lion mane that made it difficult to stab it there.

I pushed the trident further down into it's neck until The Chimera burst into a cloud of golden dust causing me to fall to the ground, once again landing on one knee and still gripping my trident tightly in my hand.

"Y'know, I would have expected that you monsters would have figured out by now not to come at me one at a time." I said and shook my head as I looked down at the golden dust for a moment before looking up at Sophia and Stefanie who were both staring at me in shock.

"D-Did that just happen? Did y-you really just kill a Ch-Chimera with a trident that used to be a mascara thing? A-Are you a d-demigod like from Percy Jackson?!?!" Sophia and Stefanie demanded when they seemed to come out of their shock a few moments later.

"Yes, I am. And you guys might be too, but, I'm not sure, you guys could just be mortals that can see through the Mist but, I don't really think so... I have to call my cousin, Chris, he might be able to figure out if you guys are demigods or not, he would probably be a great SHIELD agent in Marvel...

"Anyways, come on. I'll explain everything later." I said and turned my trident back into my mascara tube which I put in my aviator jacket's pocket before turning around and heading in the direction of a large fountain that was frozen due to the below freezing temperatures, grabbing a golden drachma out of my pocket so that I could create an Iris Message.


	3. Two

_January 12, 2019_

_Queens, New York_

"Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept this offering and show me my cousin, Christopher Ethan Black." I said, using my powers to melt the frozen water in the fountain and to then create a rainbow out of the water along with the dim, winter sunlight.

The rainbow shimmered and at exactly that moment Sophia and Stefanie ran up behind me, both obviously still freaked out and confused by what just happened.

I tossed the drachma into the rainbow and it disappeared in a flash of light causing the rainbow to disappear before an image of my cousin sitting at his drum kit and slamming his drumsticks onto the different drums incredibly hard and changed which drums he hit quickly as well appeared in the rainbow.

"Chris!" I yelled and said person froze, his drumsticks still clutched tightly in hands, which were now frozen in midair. "Samantha, what-" Chris started to ask as he turned to face me before his dark, mischievous blue eyes landed on Sophia and Stefanie who were standing behind me and most likely staring at the Iris Message I had created in shock and maybe amazement.

"Who the fuck-" Chris started to say but I immediately cut him off by snapping: "Language!"

He then smiled sarcastically at me. "Oh. I'm sorry, my dear cousin. I meant, whom the fuck- " I cut him off again, rolling my eyes at him. "Chris, shut up!!" My words caused him to pout at me, sticking out lower lip and giving me these chipmunk eyes.

"Come on, cuz!" I sighed, rolling my eyes at him, but I was purposefully not looking directly into his eyes, because, to be honest, his eyes were quite hard not to give into, even though I had seen them a million times before.

"Chris, stop. Just because you are a literal chipmunk, doesn't mean that that look will work on me! I'm not going to let you swear!" I said and he continued to pout for a few moments before grinning widely.

"Fine, Miss Captain America." He said whilst smirking, his eyes glinting in amusement, causing me to snort with laughter.

"More like Captain Element." I replied, grinning at him through the Iris Message when I saw him roll his eyes at me, though there was still a smirk on his lips.

"Yeah, okay, fine. I won't swear. But, seriously, who the Hades are those two?" Chris demanded, nodding at Soph and Stef as I glanced over my shoulder at the two of them.

"This is Sophia Solé." I said whilst nodding in the direction of my blonde best friend before nodding in the direction of my redheaded best friend and saying: "And this is Stefanie Carpentier, they're both my best friends."

Chris blinked in confusion and then muttered a quiet "oh..." under his breath whilst slowly nodding. "Ok, but... ummm... they're just mortals, aren't they?" He asked with his left eyebrow raised and his blue eyes fixed on Sophia, as if staring at her could help him figure her out, which, to be honest could be the case for him.

"I'm not sure... They can both see through the Mist, so... they're either demigods, or... just clearsighted mortals." I explained, biting my lower lip slightly because I wasn't sure how to tell him that I wanted him to figure out which of those two things they were.

"Okay... And how do you know that they can see through the Mist?" Chris asked skeptically whilst looking back in my direction, almost as if he didn't believe me that they could actually see through the Mist.

"Because a Chimera just attacked me and somehow they were able to see exactly what was happening, like it was actually happening and not like the Mist would make them see it." I said whilst looking at him through the Iris Message with both eyebrows raised like: "Don't doubt me, okay? I was here and you were playing your drum kit at your house in Brooklyn."

"Geez, I believe you, you don't have to give me that look, Sammy." Chris said, rolling his eyes before tossing his drumsticks onto something out of the Iris Message's image, most likely his bed or something, I assumed.

"Okay, so... Why exactly did you call me though? If you wanted to talk to me about something, you could just do that at Hogwarts." He said as if it were obvious, which, if just talking to him was what I wanted to do, would be true.

I mean, that's one of the practical things about demigods being able to live more than one lives at once. Well, not exactly "lives", more like you can live in more than one place at once and can do different things, but, unlike in superhero things where with two lives they mean one as a superhero and one as a normal person, you're exactly the same person.

"You would be right, if I was just in the mood to chat with you, cuz, but, I actually called to ask you if... ummm, if you could figure out if they're demigods or clearsighted mortals." I said, trailing off towards the end whilst nervously fiddling around with some strands of my messy raven black hair.

"Woah, wait, do we get to talk?! Like, you're talking for us! We should be allowed to talk too!" Sophia suddenly yelled and I looked over at her and seeing her with an upset look on her face instantly made me regret not explaining anything to her and Stefanie before calling my cousin.

"I never said you couldn't talk, and... I'm assuming Chris is going to want you to talk instead of me anyways." I mumbled whilst looking down at the frost covered pathway and Chris nodded as he looked at Sophia studiously.

"So, what did you see back there?" Chris asked Sophia, even though I could tell that he felt embarrassed about having to ask questions like that. Sophia sighed in some kind of annoyance, which confused me because, like... why? A few moments ago she looked hella freaked out and now... she's super calm and annoyed, like always.

"Samantha apologized to Stefanie about a million times for snapping at her and then out of nowhere a huge Chimera jumped out of the bushes and tackled Sam to the ground. The snake tail head thingy then like... was a snake and started to suffocate Sam by squeezing her super tight. Then Samantha suddenly, like, disappeared and reappeared in front of Stef and I...

"Then Sam went full on badass warrior and defeated the Chimera in like... Ten seconds with a trident and a stream of water that appeared out of nowhere." Sophia explained and Stefanie nodded along with her, though she kept trying to suppress laughs at Sophia's descriptions of things.

"Sam, really? You didn't have to go all "badass warrior" on the monster. You could have literally just tied it down with plants and roots and then stabbed it in the heart or something. You didn't have to make a huge fight out of it." Chris said, giving me a look that completely contoured what he had just said. His eyes showed that he was actually impressed and glad that I was fine.

"But it's fun, it makes me feel like I'm a superhero." I said, pouting slightly and Chris rolled his eyes at me. "You are a superhero, just a demigod superhero." He said and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Whatever, and as if you don't do the same thing with the powers you have." I replied and he grinned, laughing slightly though he was trying his best to hide it.

"Yeah, but I'm much cooler than you." Chris said, smirking at me as I rolled my eyes at him, shaking my head.

"No, you're not. Now can you keep talking with Stef and Soph? I need to know what to do..." I said and he blinked before quickly nodding, looking back in Sophia and Stefanie's direction.

"Okay, so... I now know for sure that you can see through the Mist, but... Now I need to figure out what you are... Have you ever experienced strange things, like the feeling of being watched constantly or the feeling of being in danger or anything similar?" Chris asked and Stefanie shrugged whereas Sophia slowly started nodding.

"Y-yeah... When I was little, maybe six, this tattoo appeared on the back of my right wrist... It showed a bow with an arrow notched in it's string, pointing towards my hand and there was a sun in the background. Under it stood the words The Glue of the Team." Sophia said and suddenly Stefanie's eyes widened.

"That happened to me too! But I was like... Four... And my tattoo had a flaming heart on it with the words The Flame of the Team under it... Do you know where the tattoo things came from?!" Stefanie demanded and Chris blinked, a look of shock on his face before he quickly shook his head as if shaking himself out of a daze, looking over at me.

"Samantha... I think you found two more members of your team thing." He said and I nodded nervously, biting my lip as I glanced at my best friends who were staring at me in confusion.

"What team?" Stefanie demanded and I looked down, digging my teeth further into my lip until I could taste the metallic taste of my blood.

"The Seventeen... I'm destined to have a team of seventeen demigods that will help me to protect the Multiverse." I said, trying not to sound nervous as I did.

"Woah wait, destined?! Protect the Multiverse?! What are you talking about?!" Sophia demanded and I took a deep breath, glancing at Chris who was grimacing slightly as he watched what was happening on this side of the Iris Message.

"Destined, like soulmates in a way, when I received my tattoo that says I'm part of the Seventeen, everyone else who's gonna be part of the Seventeen immediately received one as well... Just like the soulmate tattoos..." I said and I saw Sophia and Stefanie still staring at me in confusion and shock.

"You have one of the tattoos too?" Stefanie asked, her voice quiet as if it was difficult for her to ask the question and I nodded. "Yeah... Mine looks like this." I said and hesitantly pulled my right sleeve up so that the back of my wrist where the tattoo was was visible.

"Holy shit, are you really a daughter of Poseidon?!" Sophia was staring at my tattoo in awe and wonder, causing me to sigh. "Language, and, yeah... I am, and please don't say something like: "that's so cool!! What powers do you have? Are you like Percy?! Do you know him?! Is he actually real?!" Seriously, I'll explain everything later. But, right now... I think we need to get out of here...

"Chris, you should probably be prep-" I started to say but was interrupted by a crash from Chris's side of the Iris Message, seemingly coming from a different part of the house he was in.

My cousin's eyes immediately widened and he jumped up, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his mechanical pencil, clicking it once so that it transformed into a large dagger.

"I'm gonna go see what that was, it... Sounded like mom..." Chris said and was about to swipe his hand through the message to cut the connection when I called out "Wait!" and he froze.

"Meet me at camp." I said and he quickly nodded before swiping his hand through the Iris Message, causing the image of him to disappear and for the rainbow to evaporate.

Suddenly a small male voice in my head whispered "They're coming, hurry." My eyes widened and I grabbed Sophia and Stefanie's wrists, turning around to run home so that I could grab my bag that I had packed for if something like this were to happen.

"Samantha, what's-" Stefanie started to ask but I cut her off, not even looking at her because I needed to concentrate on not getting distracted.

"We have to go, right now!" I said and before either of them could say anything else I started running down the path that lead to my house which was about two or three blocks away from here, dragging them along behind me. We needed to get away from here, and fast!


	4. Three

**Author's note: okay, I'm gonna say this now since I didn't before, Nico is a pretty different character in this story than he is in the actual books. I mean, he has a lot of similarities, but... his story is very, very different and... it seems like his sexuality's different in this than in the books for quite a while, though, it's not really. I just... gave this version of him a really complicated storyline and character arc... I'm sorry in advance though for anyone who gets annoyed or mad or anything if Nico's different... I mean, I do, the only reason I wrote a lot of the beginning of these stories' relationships is because I started writing the original a really long time ago and I was really weird and different and stupid back then, so... yeah. I just wanted to say that, and, trust me, Nico only seems really different from book him, he's actually pretty similar though... mainly later though. Anyways! Umm... I'm just gonna put the next chapter here...**

_January 12, 2019_

_Queens, New York_

As I ran down the street that my "adopted" family, the Browns, and I currently lived on, pulling Sophia and Stefanie behind me, my eyes darted around, keeping an eye out for any monsters or other potential dangers.

I glanced around one last time when we arrived at the front door of my house before I quickly let go of Sophia and Stefanie's wrists and pulled my house keys out of my aviator jacket pocket.

I stuck the key to the front door into the lock and glanced around the street quickly before turning the key and then pushing the door open and stepping into the entry hall. "Come on." I said to my friends and nodded my head in the direction of my room, which was just down the carpeted hallway.

I ran down the hall and quickly opened my bedroom door, Sophia and Stefanie following me even though they were going much slower and judging by the way they kept glancing at each other and seemingly having a silent conversation with each other, they were hesitant to do so.

I took a deep breath as I entered my bedroom, which was quite simple, at least the furniture was. My walls were painted with all sorts of things that I had added to the boring pale blue over time and posters covered a lot of the wall next to my bed, which was simple and made of wood with a simple quilt that had been made by my "mother".

I quickly closed the door behind Sophia and Stefanie and turned the key so that it was locked before turning around to face my two best friends.

"Okay, I know you guys definitely have a lot of questions, but... We need to get out of here before I can really say anything." I told them, closing my eyes as I took a deep breath through my nose.

"Can you at least tell us if you're really a greek demigod like Percy Jackson?!" Sophia demanded and I sighed, knowing that they wouldn't drop that specific thing until I gave them an actual answer.

"I'm not the same as Percy, everything that happened there is fiction. There's no place called Camp Half-Blood, Chiron doesn't train heroes anymore, he's dead and somewhere in the good part of the Underworld, either that or he's been reborn by now, I'm not exactly sure. Olympus is definitely not floating above the Empire State Building, that's hilarious to think of.

"Olympus is actually floating above the actual camp for demigods, Camp Olympus. Greeks and Romans both live there, they aren't separated in any way like two different camps.

"There aren't exactly cabins in the formation of an Alpha sign like in the Percy Jackson books either, it's more like each god and goddess, major and minor, have their own... palace? No, more like mansion close to their "element". For example, Poseidon's is next to the large lake and waterfall there, Demeter's is near the huge forest surrounding the camp, Hades' is kinda... underground, Zeus' is up on the hill and is kinda on top of everything, in the sky, so... yeah.

"It's complicated and I will finish explaining while we're on our way there, but, to exactly answer your question, I suppose in a way I am, even if I'm totally different, like Percy Jackson." I explained as I walked passed them and over to my closet, pushing it aside to reveal an almost invisible square door in the wall behind it.

I pulled it open and pulled out the bag I had stored in there for me to quickly grab if I ever had to quickly just leave everything in the mortal world behind.

The dark moss green duffelbag had a special phone from Hephaestus made of celestial bronze which only had my demigod contacts on it, a change of clothes which would be comfortable to wear if I were on the run from basically anything, a first aid kit (with Ambrosia, Nectar, bandages, stitching materials, and so on...), two extra daggers, the old wooden chest my father had given me eight years ago before I went to the Williams, a magical pouch from Aphrodite with different kinds of money in it like Drachmas and Galleons, a few different books and a few packs of granola bars, a few packs of water bottles and a few other easily held foods.

I slung the bag over my shoulder and crossed my arms over my chest, turning to face Sophia and Stefanie with an apologetic smile on my face.

"I really wish that you guys didn't have anything to do with any of this, you guys don't deserve the fate of a demigod." I said, hoping my voice wouldn't break due to how difficult this felt for me.

My soulmate and family were already all a big part of this, my two best friends being just as involved as them was just hard, I didn't want to risk them being hurt, any of them.

"Woah, woah, wait! Slow down! Sammy, let me get everything straight that you've told us. Percy Jackson is all fiction, but, the gods of Ancient Greece are still in North America, they still have kids who go to a camp, and said demigods still train and are hunted down by monsters. And... we're some of those demigods." Stefanie said, obviously a little overwhelmed by everything that I had told them.

"Yeah, and we need to get to Camp Olympus, as soon as possible. At least you two do. I can handle myself on my own against monsters, I have been most of my life. Apparently you two are part of the Seventeen, which I really wish you weren't, it just means you're in even more danger than most demigods, and... since we just got attacked by a rare monster while we were together...

"I'm assuming that the prophecy is starting... And that means that we're gonna need to find the rest of the Seventeen and... that... means that my soulmate is going to have to be in danger and...

"Yeah, everything in your lives are about to get real messed up, okay? This isn't gonna be some fantasy like you might imagine every time you've imagined what it'd be like, being a demigod. It's gonna take a lot of training to get good, not like Percy who was able to defeat monsters and go on a super important quest after literally a week or so of training.

"It took me years just too become as good with a sword as Luke Castellan supposedly was, and, I mean, I'm still not great at everything. Sure, I'm better than some gods at combat and stuff, but I'm not good enough of a fighter yet to defeat 1000 monsters without getting injured, though I would probably be able to do it and survive." I explained, uncrossing my arms and fiddling with the straps of the duffelbag.

"You're at Percy Jackson's level of sword fighting?!" Sophia demanded and I sighed, rolling my eyes slightly as I made my way towards the door of my bedroom.

"That's what dad said. No idea if he's right or not." I said whilst shrugging my shoulders, causing one of the duffelbag's straps to slip down my arm.

"Your dad? Like, Poseidon? You've met him?! And he complimented your sword fighting skills?!" Stefanie demanded, seemingly beating Sophia too it since Sophia gave her an annoyed look for a moment before nodding along, looking at me expectantly as I adjusted the strap so it was on my shoulder again.

"He's my dad, of course I've met him! I've met him hundreds of times." I said, looking at them with a smirk tugging at my lips as I carefully curled my fingers around the gold painted doorhandle.

"Don't the gods not pay much attention to their kids?" Stefanie asked and I shook my head as I slowly turned the key to unlock my bedroom door.

"No, like I said, Percy Jackson's mainly fiction. I'll explain everything else once we get to the forest a few streets down. We have to get to camp as soon as possible, and it'll take a bit to walk to Long Island." I said, opening the door and looking at my best friends over my shoulder.

"So, we need to go right now." I said and walked out into the hallway, glancing back to make sure that Sophia and Stefanie were actually following me.

"So Camp really is on Long Island?!" Sophia demanded, seemingly bouncing on the balls of her feet as she followed me towards the front door.

"Not where it is in Percy Jackson, but, yes it is." I replied before holding my hands in a cone shape around my mouth and facing the inside of the house again.

"I'm spending the night at Sophia's tonight! Bye!! Love you!!" I called and then turned back around, opening the front door when I heard my "mother" answer.

"Okay, Sweety! Have fun! I love you, see you tomorrow!" Andrea called and I sighed, stepping outside.

I was never going to see the Browns again, if I could do anything about it. It wasn't that I didn't want to see them again, they were probably my only other real family besides my biological one and I was definitely gonna miss them... But coming back here would be too dangerous for them, it was better if I kept my distance from now on.

I pulled the door closed behind myself when Sophia and Stefanie followed me out and I then lead them towards the large forest that stretched on for miles and miles behind us.

This is going to be a long trip with all the questions I'm expecting from them... I thought, sighing as we walked into the thick forest of pine trees.


End file.
